From D. F. Nevill   14 [February 1875]1

Dangstein. Petersfield

14th

My dear Sir

I am coming up to London, I hope, on the 20th for about 10 days    Is there any chance of our meeting— I should so extremely like and appreciate a personal acquaintance with yourself tho I much fear you will find me dreadfully wanting—for I have to mix so much in a frivolous world that tho my delight is in studies like those you undertake yet I cannot give very much attention to them therefore if we do meet I hope you will make full allowance for my shortcomings and blunders— I have begun to read your sons article in the “Fortnightly” but it appears to me, tho very interesting, abstruse—2 perhaps later on I might understand it   Lady Hawkshaw who is a neighbour of ours and in some way connected with your family tells me that you generally come to London in Feby and that is why I propose seeing you.3 I would call on you—anywhere or at any hour—if you would prefer it

Ys most truly | D Nevill

1
The month and year are established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to D. F. Nevill, 15 February 1875.
2
George Howard Darwin’s article ‘The theory of exchange value’ (G. H. Darwin 1875d) appeared in the February issue of the Fortnightly Review.
3
Ann Hawkshaw’s country home was Hollycombe near Liphook, Hampshire (Post Office directory of Hampshire, Dorsetshire, and Wiltshire). Liphook is about six miles from Nevill’s estate at Dangstein, West Sussex. Her daughter Mary Jane Jackson Hawkshaw had married Godfrey Wedgwood in 1862 and her son Clarke Hawkshaw had married Cicely Mary Wedgwood in 1865. The Darwins often visited London in February or March, but had no fixed time when they went (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9854,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9854